The author, John Marek, is a writer and CEO of the Anson Economic Development Partnership.
This year, the Cadbury “bunny” is a one-eyed rescue cat from Boise, Idaho, named “Crash.” Although Cadbury used non-bunny “bunnies” for years in ads for its signature cream egg, Cadbury officially began holding “Cadbury Bunny Tryouts” in 2019, inviting pet owners to submit photos and videos of their animals in bunny ears to compete for the chance to star in the brand’s Easter commercial.
Nothing says (secular) Easter like bunnies and eggs, but why do we associate them with the holiday? Believe it or not, we can thank the Germans.
The origin of the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs is rooted in ancient pagan spring festivals that celebrated the arrival of spring and new life. These festivals, which were held in honor of various pagan deities, typically took place around the time of the vernal equinox (around March 20 or 21 in the Northern Hemisphere), when the length of day and night were approximately equal.
One of these festivals was Ostara, the Germanic festival of spring and fertility, which was named after the Germanic goddess of the same name. The festival was held around the time of the vernal equinox and involved the giving of eggs as gifts, which symbolized new life and fertility.
When Christianity began to spread throughout Europe, it assimilated some of the traditions and customs of these pagan festivals in an effort to make the new religion more palatable to the local population. In the case of Easter, the early Christian church retconned the egg as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which is celebrated during the Easter holiday. The egg, which appears lifeless on the outside, but contains new life within, is seen as a metaphor for the resurrection of Christ. The coloring of the eggs symbolized the blood which Jesus shed on the cross.
The Easter Bunny, on the other hand, is a more recent addition to the Easter holiday and is believed to have originated in 17th century Germany. It also evolved from pagan traditions, which featured a hare as a symbol of fertility and new life. In some paintings from that time, the Virgin Mary is shown with rabbits at her feet, perhaps demonstrating the church’s attempt to meld the concepts. German immigrants brought the tradition of the Easter Bunny to America in the 1700s, where it became a popular Easter symbol, especially for children.
When I think of my childhood Easters, a slightly disturbing image comes to mind. One of the five-and-dime stores in the town where I grew up had a seasonal display of live, colored animals for sale near the front of the store. I knew Easter was near when a wooden hutch containing chicks, ducklings and baby rabbits dyed pink, yellow and blue appeared just inside Walford’s front door. Of course, I wanted one, but my parents had some sense of decency and determined it would not be a good idea to let me torture some poor little animal I had no idea how to care for. We lived in a rural area, so I suppose a few of those animals survived and became cherished pets, or at least Sunday dinner, but I’m guessing the average lifespan of the chicks and ducks, especially, was counted in week if not days.